Demon in a Screen Print: The Art of the Iron Man Franchise

For years — literally since before it was cool and you could call the shop at the S. Lamar Alamo Drafthouse and check to see if they had a particular poster in stock — we’ve been covering the work of the folks at Mondo. We’re cinematic art hipsters like that. And over the years we’ve seen them do some really great things, including series-upon-series of actually licensed posters for Star Wars and Star Trek alongside hundreds of other properties. The diversity of the work is a testament to how hard these folks work behind the scenes to secure the rights to even do the art in the first place. Unlike the Wild West of Etsy, if you want to become a popular art boutique selling posters to fanboys, you need to get your legal documents in order. That’s what makes some of the work they do so impressive. Anyone could doodle a poster and print out a few copies, but securing the rights and curating art from some of the world’s finest working artists is something special.

One of the key licenses that Mondo has worked with over the past few years is that of Marvel Studios. In conjunction with a number of great Disney properties and of course, those killer Star Wars prints, their recent success has been built pretty steadily in the past half-decade over their ability to secure the biggest names in characters — Captain America, Thor and even this week’s guest of honor, Iron Man. Speaking of the latter, this week Mondo revealed a few brand new prints in celebration of Iron Man 3. It’s a release that prompted me to take a look back at all the best Iron Man-centric prints Mondo has released in the past dating back to the first Iron Man film in 2008. Won’t you come along with me on this journey through Iron Man’s brief, but killer history in the eyes of Mondo artists?

Iron Man by Daniel Johnston

Local and cult hero Daniel Johnston once did a Mondo Iron Man poster. It was 2008, the screen print was sold for $25 in a run of 100. Those were the days.

Ultimate Iron Man by Jesse Philips

Created for the Alamo Drafthouse’s 2008 sci-fi screening series, this one celebrated Iron Man, Jon Favreau’s kick-off to the now monstrously successful series.

Iron Man 2 by Tyler Stout

When the second Jon Favreau-directed Iron Man film was released in 2010, Mondo and Alamo took things up a notch. This time there was a very special version of the poster screenprinted on metal. Heavy metal, as it were.

Iron Man 2 by Mike Saputo

Since it was Iron Man ‘2’, they also brought in a second artist, Mike Saputo, to put his comic sensibilities to work for this colorful print.

The Avengers: Iron Man by Kevin Tong

In the run up to 2012’s The Avengers, Mondo enlisted Kevin Tong in making a regular and variant version of an Iron Man poster for their Avengers series. This one, above all the others that came before it, is my personal favorite.

Iron Man 3 by Martin Ansin

This week, Mondo announced a set of posters to coincide with the release of Shane Black’s Iron Man 3. And once again, they’ve turned to two artists who have not previously covered Iron Man for them. First up is this gorgeous print from Martin Ansin that I believe should go nicely on the wall right next to Ansin’s Looper poster from last fall.

Iron Man 3 by Phantom City Creative

A inadvertent companion piece to Kevin Tong’s Iron Man print seen above, Phantom City Creative’s take on Iron Man 3 involves all the suits employed by Tony Stark in his cinematic history, many of which seem to exist in this new movie.

Both the Ansin and Phantom City prints are set to go on sale at a random time on Friday, May 3. If you’re so inclined, you may want to follow @MondoNews on Twitter for the exact time.

More from Around the Web:

Reject Nation

0 Comments

Leave a comment

Comment Policy: No hate speech allowed. If you must argue, please debate intelligently. Comments containing selected keywords or outbound links will be put into moderation to help prevent spam. Film School Rejects reserves the right to delete comments and ban anyone who doesn't follow the rules. We also reserve the right to modify any curse words in your comments and make you look like an idiot. Thank You!